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Newsweek

Sky-High Corruption From Our Government of Gangsters

Corruption in the Trump administration is so pervasive that its hard to keep track of whether President Donald Trump's dash for dictatorship or his dash for cash is moving faster. Since the news broke that Trump is arranging for Qatar to give him a $400 million Boeing 747 to fly around in, Trump's limitless greed is in plain sight—or should we say "plane" sight? We can all see it, but so can the FBI, the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, along with White House counsel. Their leaders were all chosen to be lickspittles, but they are truly going above and beyond the call of duty. Some of them are ignoring Trump's predations—listen to the crickets at the FBI—but most of them are actively enabling the president to use his public position to enrich himself. Let's talk about the airplane for a moment. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution specifically prohibits presidents from accepting "any any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State." So, what does Attorney General Pam Bondi do? According to sources, the Justice Department justifies the gift by creating a sham show. The plane will nominally belong to the Defense Department. It will go to Trump's library after he leaves office—and get a load of this—he promises not to ride in it once he stops being president. Therefore, Bondi will apparently bloviate, it's not a gift to Trump. In this Feb. 15 photo, a Qatari Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after President Donald Trump toured the aircraft. In this Feb. 15 photo, a Qatari Boeing 747 sits on the tarmac of Palm Beach International airport after President Donald Trump toured the aircraft. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images My head is already black and blue from banging it on the desk these last 100 days, but this one takes the cake. "Just give the gold bars to my wife" Sen. Bob Menendez (formerly D-NJ) might have said, that way I'll still get rich, but it won't be illegal. As he reports to federal prison next month ask him how he feels about it now. For Bondi to bless this Qatari sheikh's big bad Boeing baksheesh is another not so funny joke in a long line this year. Who is the plane going to benefit? Donald Trump. And only Donald Trump. The idea that putting the gift in someone else's name makes it legal would leave a class of fifth graders rolling on the ground with laughter. As would the claim that he promises not to ride in it after he leaves office. HA! So, what's happened to our organs of justice? Our ethics police? Our sense of honor? It's been bought and paid for, that's what. Don't forget who Pam Bondi worked for before Trump. You guessed it—as a lobbyist for the Qatari government! You can't make this stuff up. Nor can you ignore that Bondi has turned a blind eye to a boat-load of other bad things. Trump's bogus law firm binge against ABC, Meta, and CBS has raked into his pockets some $40 million—so far. Meanwhile, all the rest of this grifting, grafting, grotesquery is dwarfed by the hundreds of millions Trump is raking in from his crypto meme and the naked way he is going about soliciting it. He has literally put himself up for auction. Profits from the meme coin benefit Trump. He has publicly said he will not refuse personal profit from the endeavor, and he is directly using his office to promote the coin. It's not even subtle. He is personally hosting a dinner for the biggest coin buyers. The promotion for the occasion roars it out: "Let the President know how many $TRUMP coins YOU own!" What else would any honest law enforcement organization need to know? We know why nothing is being done. Corruption. Public officials in the Justice Department, the Office of Legal Counsel, the FBI, and the Office of White House Legal Counsel, have traded in their duty to the law for fealty to a felon. They act as enablers to a criminal who knows no limits. They violate their oaths of offices. And one day, if honest law enforcement is ever restored to this country, they expose themselves to criminal liability for conspiring to accomplish the bribery of the president of the United States. Remember lawyers, the statute of limitations is five years. And Trump can't pardon them out of losing their licenses to practice law. Let his co-conspiring lawyers think about that one extra hard. Thomas G. Moukawsher is a former Connecticut complex litigation judge and a former co-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Employee Benefits. He is the author of the new book, The Common Flaw: Needless Complexity in the Courts and 50 Ways to Reduce It. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.